Happy Last Day of February!
I don't know why people don't love February - it's such a short and fun month...with Valentine's Day, and my birthday, and a week off from school...and also Ash Wednesday, and snow storms and freezing temps...okay maybe I do understand a wee bit!
Maggie came home from her mission trip on Saturday, and was immediately missing the beautiful Florida weather:
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| Final day was a fun one at Disney Springs |
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| The Maggies painting |
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| The Maggies dancing next to their future selves :) |
Maggie was missing home-cooking, so we (Phil) made a thai chicken and noodle dish to welcome her home:
Declan had a fun day bowling with friends on Saturday:
Xander went out with friends to the mall and Brendan had his best friend over for the day, so everybody had fun before we were snowed in:
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| Lunch time! |
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| Play time! |
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| Firing the canon |
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| S'mores Indoors! |
And then the snow and my anxiety started on Sunday evening. I hate storms. Sure, some snow is very pretty, but we got the biggest blizzard EVER RECORDED IN THIS AREA. 37 inches! We lost power for awhile on Monday, but got it back for the rest of the week, unlike so many others. We were essentially snowed in until Wednesday when Phil and the kids (my heroes!) dug us out. Our town was in a state of emergency until Friday and driving and parking on the streets was banned. We had left our house on Sunday morning and didn't leave again until Thursday. Very pandemic-esque. I am so thankful that we live with my parents below us, had plenty of food and power, and like each other pretty well to be off from school and work for a whole week ;)
Scenes form the Blizzard of 2026:
Our kids started out having SAL (Stay At home Learning) days, but once so many were without power, switched to traditional snow days, and then back to SAL days by the end of the week. A whole week without going to school, directly following a whole week of February vacation was a lot of time in the house.
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| I was nervous watching them clean the top of the van until I realized they would only fall into 3' of snow. |
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| The poor trees bowed to Winter Storm Hernando |
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| Maggie has never missed her big brothers more |
The puzzle got completed! Well except for one missing piece, d'oh:
Our parish had their Lenten Mission planned for Mon-Wed this week, and a visiting priest came to give it, but due to the blizzaed, they ended up recording it and we watched on YouTube with my parents each evening:
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| We played Blind Karaoke |
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| I think Phil only had to workout once at home before shovelling became his main form of exercise! |
At one point, I calmly yelled at everyone to have quiet reading time, and they chose the nookiest nooks they could find.
My parents got a new bed delivered and Phil helped them set it up:
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| Just Dance was another hit while we were homebound |
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| Playing in the snow was a daily activity for these two |
Lucy enjoyed her first walk in four days! Trees and snow piles were everywhere.
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| This is what most street corners look like - very scary for driving! |
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| No sweets for Lent means lots of fruits, and Declan was proud of how he cut this mango! |
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| Stations of the Cross on Fridays of Lent, and Brendan is old/tall enough to finally hold the torch with his brothers. |
In the midst of the blizzard week happened to fall my birthday! And more importantly, JP's 23rd birthday, who remains my favorite birthday buddy. He sent me his wish list and I bought him his gifts and I'm sure he spent the day studying, but we also FaceTimed and his brothers were able to take him out to dinner last night.
Phil and Maggie made me my favorite Lemon Mascarpone pancakes (triple the recipe and add the juice of half a lemon) for breakfast:
I got some lovely gifts, like this Duquesne medical school sweatshirt:
New earrings:
Personalized glasses to replace the ones that broke, a nail gift certificate, a girly gift because I kept stealing Maggie's, and cute cards from the kids. Phil made a delicious dinner of chicken milanese with a parmesan arugula salad and fettucine alfredo. And a chocolate chip cookie cake for dessert!
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| This will be my birthday cake request from henceforth |
I used my parent's treadmill to walk 4.7 miles (uphill in a snowstorm!) for my 47 years on Earth:
Maggie gave me an Instagram shoutout, so cute!
The next day, when we finally left the house, I ran a 4.71 on the gym treadmill to celebrate the day after my 47th birthday. I like numbers :)
Today, we have Brendan's big final swim meet of the season, and then we march into the month of March. God willing it will be a lot less snowy than the beginning of 2026! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
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